Don't Cheat Yourself

We are already being cheated by everyone in the world because they are constantly imposing upon us the false bodily conception of the self. So at least there should be one person who does not cheat us. And that should be ourselves. We must therefore be fully convinced that we are not these bodies, that we are instead eternal spiritual beings, and thus always engage ourselves in the service of Lord Sri Krishna. In this way, we will always be acting in our highest self-interest by getting back to our original, all-blissful, eternal positions in that wondrous spiritual sky.

Reward Yourself by Going Back to Godhead

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Answers by Citing the Vedic Version

Question: Preach to Deliver the World or Only to Deliver Ourselves?

Dear Gurudeva,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I heard in a lecture the speaker was saying, "Don't think that you will deliver the whole world by preaching. You are preaching for you only. Your preaching will be successful when you preach for 10 years and you make one devotee in that ten years and that devotee is you."

But in your writings I find that you instruct to preach for delivering the people of the world. I am confused. please instruct me.

Your servant,

Sanket

Answer: Deliver Yourself by Trying to Deliver Everyone

According to this person's philosophy, he is only preaching to himself, not to others. Therefore for him to give a lecture to others is an act of hypocrisy, which is a symptom of the Kali yuga. If this is his philosophy, he should walk his talk and not preach to others. He should only preach privately to himself.

Insofar as what is the actual philosophy of Krishna consciousness, Srila Prabhupada ordered his disciples, "Preach to the world." He ordered us to become perfect in understanding of science Krishna consciousness, to become guru, and deliver the whole world. Therefore the loyal disciples will certainly try their best to carry out this order. By this total dedication to the world deliverance mission of Lord Caitanya, the devotee's personal deliverance is automatically guaranteed. In other words, the quickest way for you to become fully qualified to go back to home, back to Godhead is try to deliver the whole world, by giving Krishna consciousness to everyone that you meet.

Of course, the devotee never considers himself the doer, even if he has miraculous results from his preaching. He gives all credit to his spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada never took any credit for attracting so many disciples all over the world. He said that they were all sent to him by his Guru Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur. The only credit that Srila Prabhupada would take for the amazing results of his preaching was that he had always faithfully followed the instructions of his spiritual master.

Also, in this connection Srila Prabhupada writes as follows in the Nectar of Devotion Introduction:

"The author of Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, Srila Rupa Gosvami, very humbly submits that he is just trying to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world, although he humbly thinks himself unfit for this work. That should be the attitude of all preachers of the Krishna consciousness movement, following in the footsteps of Srila Rupa Gosvami. We should never think of ourselves as great preachers, but should always consider that we are simply instrumental to the previous acaryas, and simply by following in their footsteps we may be able to do something for the benefit of suffering humanity.”

Therefore as a dutiful follower of Rupa Goswami and Srila Prabhupada, the Krishna conscious preacher fully dedicates his life for making the entire world Krishna conscious even though he knows that he is completely unfit for this mighty task. He endeavors to do this by always preaching and by always sincerely trying to please his spiritual master with all of his thoughts, words, and deeds in all times, places, and circumstances. In this way he becomes a suitable instrument through which his spiritual master, the previous acharyas, and Lord Caitanya can successfully accomplish their world deliverance mission.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari